013: A Spy and genjutsu training.

Land of stone

High End flower shop.

Sumire was tending to her garden as always, her flower shop had a constant stream of noble clients. Her garden was magnificent and tending it made her relax. In a moment, a weird smell almost undetectable for the unattentive came to her flower shop. It felt good, refreshing, and salty, it made her remember… home.

She got up and went on with her day until she got back to her house. She took her shoes off, went to the flowerpot in her living room and smelled the flowers that she added this morning. Well, not all of them, a "sumire" was added. That was her signal. She grabbed the flowers to replace the water while touching the violet flower. 

It had a pattern in the stem.

-.-...-...-.. -..... -.-.---..-.-.-. -....-...---. -.-..------ .--.-.. -.....-. -.-...-.... .-..-.-..-. -.....-- -.-.----.-..-...-. ....-.....--...-.--.. -..----.- ..-..-...-..

Sumire's expression was grave, but she had no other choice.

She tied her hair, changed to a black uniform, and went to accomplish her mission.

She went to the noble house, a cousin and supporter of the current Earth Daimyo. She could recognize the scent of her flowers in the ninjas, samurais and guards who were on standby. She already knew what route to take, the habits of the guards, when and where to go.

Her objective, the room of the new favorite consort of the noble. She got there, put the woman in a fake death with a needle, put her "corpse" in a parchment, used her makeup to pretend to be her and went to warm the bed of her "master".

The needle secret was an old secret technique from her clan, hidden even from their own village. A last resort of some sorts when everything else failed. It would not last long, but just enough for her purpose.

The samurai and guards did not notice anything strange, just a new favorite trying to have more favor from their lord.

And … Sumire waited. Frankly she was too old for this, but her ex-clan genes made her retain her beauty even at her age. 

The sound of footsteps alerted her and she went to receive the lord. The lord was pleased with her initiative and unsuspecting the change. Only that she was "more beautiful" than other times.

They went to the bed and Sumire kissed him. The lord was happy, and when he went to kiss back at her he felt his whole body numb. 

He had been poisoned. Poison attached to her lipstick, an old trick of an (now death) friend of hers, a seduction specialist.

She materialized an ice needle from nothing and stabbed his neck, killing him in the act. After that she used an ordinary raiton jutsu on him to burn his heart.

She grabbed the consort out of the seal, changed her clothes in a maid uniform , added another needle and stuffed her back in another seal.

´3,2,1´ Sumire counted for her distraction to appear

BOOOM

´NOW´

An explosion was felt in the manor. Sumire took advantage of the chaos to escape, and on her way, she freed her captive, put her on a genjutsu to make her feel and behave like a maid running away from the noise and escaped.

She got back to her flower shop after knowing that she was not being followed and layed low for a really good time to wait for her next mission.

Afterall, she had to keep going, that was the only condition for "them" to relocate her daughter away from the clan.

_ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Konoha village

Uchiha clan

Patriarch House

Sora was excited. Mikoto told him that he would be learning how to wield his "genjutsu" powers. They had to start from scratch and make some introductions, but damn he was excited!.

Itachi went alone to train while he stayed in the house with Mikoto to learn illusions. Itachi did not have enough chakra to start with illusions, but Sora due to his "complexion" could.

"What can you tell me about genjutsu?" asked Mikoto in a gentle way.

"something like Illusions?" answered/asked a doubtful Sora.

"My, my, for how much of your time you spend reading ninjutsu descriptions of the library, I thought that you would have a more concrete answer. Oops, I forgot it was a secret" said in a playful way Mikoto.

´Fucking ninjas and their damnable stealth´ thought sora in his mind while maintaining a poker face.

"Shameless, and not admitting anything, good job" said Mikoto while resalting the qualities of a good ninja.

"Genjutsu is a branch that a ninja could follow in his carrer. Illusions are a good description but not quite. Genjutsu are divided in two categories who also have more divisions. The first is the reach of the genjutsu, will you affect a person or a terrain?. The second is the implementation of said genjutsu, Can you guess how do you implement a genjutsu?" asked Mikoto

"Mmmmmm… Through the senses I guess." said Sora.

"Correct, in the mainstream study of genjutsu, you can use the senses as a medium to deliver it. For example we Uchiha are famous for our visual genjutsu, some clans in the north are famous for their using music as a medium to deliver their illusions, similar to you, but not quite." 

"The Inuzukas have some simple genjutsu that are implemented through smells, the Akimichi developed some less mainstream genjutsu to enhance the taste of their food, and there are divisions here in Konoha who are masters of tactile illusions, but you will know about them in the future, not now" said Mikoto, trying to convey a summary of the different types of genjutsus mediums.

´Mmmmmhh, maybe something related to seduction specialist´ thought sora.

And he was right.

She continued.

"Of course, those examples are more mainstream. There exists different clans with their own implementation of genjutsu. Just like the Kurama clan, who possess a Kekkei Genkai related to them, similar to our sharingan. They will be relevant in a minute, but first, what is needed for someone to fall on a genjutsu?" asked Mikoto

"Mmmm, I don´t know?" answered Sora, that question was way out of his league.

"Chakra" answered a smiling Mikoto

"Chakra?" replied a doubtful sora

" Yes, chakra. Both the sender and the receiver of an illusion must have chakra, or more specific, a chakra path. When you use genjutsu, you insert chakra in the chakra paths of the victim in their brain, making them see, taste, hear, listen, smell, different.

I will give you an example, the aburame had a parasite capable of infecting and controlling snails. They tried to use this parasites to use them in different species, but they failed, because the parasite and the host must be related in some way or another. 

And now comes the question, how can you make me, an elite Jounin like me, fall in a genjutsu if you did not develop a chakra path?" Said Mikoto reaching at the cross of the matter. This was puzzling to say the least.

Sora thought for a moment and opened his eyes 

"That, that is trueee!! but how?!" asked Sora.

"Well, we don´t know, me and your father spoke about it but we still don´t have a definite answer" answered a tired Mikoto.

They had some theories, but they should have to test them.

"For now, we know that your instinctual medium to cast illusions is through singing. Mixing emotions with sounds made a lovely spectacle for Itachi, Fugaku and me, it felt something similar to the Kurama genjutsu, but not quite the same. 

Do you think you can sing a little to test it?" said Mikoto

"Sure, what should I sing" asked Sora

"Whatever you like my dear, this time, try to make me interact with the illusion, not only as a spectator" said Mikoto, while making mental protections in her brain in case of an accident. 

"Okey, I will Start" said Sora.

[A/N: Please listen to "we all become", part of the OST of Transistor while reading the next scene!!!]

"When you speak I hear silence" 

Mikoto could feel how the illusion was entering her mind. It was similar to a Kurama genjustu but "purer" and with no chakra. She tested resisting, first with a gening equivalent chakra, she could not resist. 

Then with a Chunnins chakra, she could barely resist, and then with a Jounins chakra, and the illusion stopped.

´Chunnin level genjutsu, and capable of affecting an unsuspecting jounin, interesting´thought Mikoto while releasing her resistance and getting engulfed in the illusion.

"Every word a defiance"

She was now in the illusion, she looked in the mirror and could see her reflection. Well not quite, she now was beautiful, yes, but felt foreign. With short red hair styled in a wavy fashion, thin lips and magnificent blue eyes. 

She tried to speak but she could not do it.

" I can hear, ooooh, I can hear

Think I'll go where it suits me"

She looked to the side and could see her husband, approaching her and giving her a hug while taking her outside of the room.

He took her for a ride while using a weird means of transportation on two wheels. She could see a magnificent and coloured city, more neater and beautiful than even the Fire Capital.

"Moving out to the country

With everyone, ooooh, everyone

Before we all become one…"

The scene changed and now she was holding her husband? yes and no. It was a weird looking sword, similar in size to an Uchiha fan. Bulky but precious, she could feel that it was precious. She felt her husband protecting her from that weird looking sword. 

Weird monsters appeared from the shadows and so she had to fight.

"You tell yourself that you're lucky

Lying down never struck me

As something fun, oh, any fun

Stabbing pain for the feeling

Now your wound's never healing

'Til you're numb, oh, it's begun

Before we all become one"

Hordes of metallic and uncontrolled monsters surrounded her, but she fought, she, no, they were fighting together. They were two against the whole world.

"Oh, we all, we all become one

Oh, we all, we all become one

Ooh, we all, we all become one

Ooooh, we all, we all become one

Stop grieving, start leaving

Before we all become one"

Then a monster ´The spine´ she thought, she didn´t know how she knew that. 

Oh no, They had tooo…!

"Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!"

And so Mikoto ran grabbing Fugaku, escaping from the big monster with a size similar to a biju. Until they escaped to a beach, a place where the sun was up in the skies, freeing the world from the darkness and those horrible monsters. They were finally safe

"Ooh, we all, we all become one"

The Illusion stopped, she could feel her heart racing, blood flowing in a high pace, and realized that they were back. Her son and her.

"Soo, How was it ?" asked sora hoping for praise.

Mikoto smiled not showing how shocked she was.

It was an incredible illusion, she could feel how lost she was. Her perception and her reality changed, at least for a moment. It was a breathtaking experience.

"It was magnificent, when your dad comes you should make him listen with me. How do you feel?" asked a worried Mikoto.

"I feel quite tired"

"That is normal my dear, no matter what, you are still only three years old. I think we can finish for today and continue another day" said Mikoto, feeling quite happy for her son.

"Okey, let's make pizza for lunch! Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!" said a really happy Sora. He knew that he should not be acting so childish, but people here matured fast so he had to act. Also, he could finally train and protect himself with his own powers.

"Sure my dear" Smiled Mikoto while walking to the kitchen.

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A/N 2 : Your disney princess is back and more corny than ever. I deleted an scene about who Sumire was, trying to make the "show don´t tell" technique that I found. I am really learning a bunch of basic stuff so that I can least try to write something readable. (like chekuv´s gun, deus ex machina, red hearring and that)

I also used We all become, at first I was about to use an Adele song, but it felt weird.

Oh well, thanks for passing by and have a good day!

A/N 3: I realized that maybe some people would not get the transistor reference. So, Do you know Hades the game?. Well, a previous game of the developer supergiantgames was transistor (a MASTERPIECE) a sci-fi game similar to Hades but with different mechanics. You control Red a singer who lost his voice, and the "transistor" her sword/lover, trapped in the sword after he sacrificed to protect Red. It is $0.79 USD dollar NOW in STEAM, it seems the offer is valid until 11/7/2024 (Day/month/year). So you should check it out if you want (or at least listen to the music on youtube. Ashely Barret and Darren Korb are awesome)